In recent years, extensive research has been conducted on techniques for producing thin metal strips, thin round metal wires or fine metal particles by melt-quenching processes, and various processes therefor have been proposed as disclosed, for example, in "Amorphous Alloys and Their Properties and Applications" (published in Japanese by Agune, 1981). These processes are in common in that the desired product is prepared by melting a specified metal material in a crucible and applying a pressure to the molten metal to discharge the metal against a quenching device from a nozzle attached to the bottom of the crucible. How to quench the metal discharged from the nozzle differs depending on the type of metal product (thin strip, thin round wire or fine particles) to be obtained. Various cooling methods for different types of products are proposed specifically in literature or publications. However, how to supply the molten metal is not disclosed in detail in these publications.
It is generally known to prepare metal products by measuring out several kinds of component materials for a specified alloy to obtain a mixture of specified composition, melting the mixture in a crucible and solidifying the molten mixture to prepare an alloy ingot first. Subsequently the ingot is placed into a discharge crucible, then melted again by heating and thereafter discharged in molten state from a nozzle with application of pressure afforded by an inert gas. However, the conventional process is practiced batchwise for preparing the alloy ingot, re-melting the ingot and discharging the molten metal and is therefore economically disadvantageous and in no way suited to commercial operation. More specifically stated, the conventional process has the following problems. (1) The process requires equipment for producing and storing alloy ingots. (2) Energy is required for re-melting the alloy ingot in the discharge crucible. (3) Because the process is batchwise, (a) the operation efficiency is low, (b) the quality of the product is likely to differ from batch to batch, and (c) a reduced yield will result when the portions of the batch resulting from an unstable operation at the start and end of the discharging or an uneven portion resulting from the variation of the molten metal level is excluded from the product.
Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Applications Nos. SHO 57-39062, SHO 57-112956 (claiming priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 220,561) and SHO 57-134251 (claiming priority from U.S. application Ser. No. 220,401) disclose details of improvements in apparatus for preparing metal products, but the disclosed apparatus similarly employ a batchwise process. Thus, the above problems still remain to be solved.